Currently, a prospective customer and existing customer have similar experiences when applying online for a new financial account, such as a credit card account, with a financial institution. In both cases, when a customer transmits an electronic request to open a new account via a financial institution's publicly accessible web site or the like, such customer is presented with an application for opening a new account in which twenty or more fields of personal identification and financial information must typically be entered. The requested information may include data that is required by existing financial decision-making matrices and similar processes used to evaluate the financial risk and/or credit-worthiness of a customer. However, the time burden imposed on the customer in entering the information may cause some customers to instead forgo the filing of a new account application at all. Each such case then represents a lost opportunity for a financial institution to increase its customer base.
Recognizing this, certain financial institutions allow existing customers to first log into a financial institution's publicly accessible computer system. Having already identified themselves as existing customers in this manner, a shortened application may then be presented to those existing customers that submit a request to open a new account.
Oftentimes though, existing customers may not have logged in or may otherwise wish to forgo entering their user name and password when inquiring about opening a new account. In such cases, the customer may not be presented with the opportunity to use a shorter application form. In addition, any information entered into the standard form is typically lost when the customer attempts instead to login and use the shortened form prior to the completing the standard, longer form. These existing systems do not, therefore, address all the frustrations an existing customer may face when applying online for a new account, which can again lead to undue loss of further customer acquisitions.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system that better accommodates existing customers who apply online to open a new account.